Will Cowboys upgrade defensive coordinator post?

Pasqualoni got the job on an interim basis after Wade Phillips was fired following a 1-7 start.

“When you look at it on the whole, he was put in a difficult situation in the middle of the year and tried to implement some of the changes we wanted to do,” Garrett said. “He handled the situation well. Our players responded to him. We need to get better on defense, there is no question about that.”

The Cowboys finished 23rd in the league in total defense (351.8 yards per game) and 31st in scoring defense (27.3 points). Under Pasqualoni, the yardage totals got worse and the scoring norm improved slightly.

The one area the defense did make major strides in was takeaways, something Garrett stressed from Day One. Dallas forced 20 turnovers in the final eight games, which was double what they forced in the first eight under Phillips. Eight of those takeaways under Pasqualoni were returned for touchdowns, including the 17-yard fumble return by DeMarcus Ware in Sunday’s 14-13 win over Philadelphia.

“We’ve talked about the importance of turnovers and that being really the most significant stat in football and how turnovers correlate to scoring points and how scoring points correlates to winning,” Garrett said. “The defense did an outstanding job really getting the ball from the opposing offense, knocking it out and picking up a fumble like happened the other day or being awfully good at going and getting the ball and intercepting it. That certainly helped us offensively score more points and it contributed to winning.

“So, that’s the important part of it. Everyone knows we’ve got to get better on (defense) and in the kicking game, so we’ll continue to focus on how we can do that.”

Pasqualoni is a fine coach and a good friend of Garrett’s, but the Cowboys must explore whether an upgrade can be made here. The defense is the club’s major weak link and must be fixed promptly. It’s too important of an area not to uncover all stones in a search for a coach who can bring out the best in the likes of Anthony Spencer and Mike Jenkins and bring a Doomsday mentality back to Dallas.